For goodness' sake don't play this on evenings when you have to work the next day because the odds are you'll still be in front of your machine in the early hours, striving to build one more bit of your spaceship, or conquering just one more city before you go to bed.

It's brilliant. Better than the first game, in fact. It's got everything you could ask for. More Pikmin, bigger play areas, dungeons to explore, multiplayer modes... but crucially, it doesn't feel bloated. [JPN Import]

The most complete FPS we have ever seen. This is it. We have it now. We have a game that is as essential to your console happiness as a memory card, Dual Shock and big comfy armchair.

It sets down the ground rules early on and adheres to them with a wonderful strictness that many games are terrified to do.

Apart from the oversight of not including 3D greens, leaving putting a little to guesswork, Tiger Woods 2003 really is one of the best golf sims ever made.

The standard sit-on-the-fence "If you're a fan..." line doesn't apply here. Instead, we say this - buy it, learn the rules and thank us later. Ours will be a pint. Without the mayonnaise, thank you.

Fine visuals, excellent sound and a level of presentation currently unrivalled in any sporting product - what more could you want?

With lusciously detailed graphics and some superb sound FX and music rounding the game off, Red Alert looks destined to follow "Dune II" and "Command and Conquer" straight into the Westwood hall of fame.

A work of Tolkeinesque proportions and not only the greatest RPG of our times, but one of the greatest games of all time. Wholeheartedly recommended.

Quite simply, Beetle Adventure Racing is the most fun, most exciting and most satisfying racing game on the N64 to date.

After all, any self-respecting Halo 2 Live player who actually misses out on these nine new maps is probably beyond help anyway.

The definitive, most universally appealing WWII title ever made. It's not that the game does anything more or less than its digital brothers in arms, far from it, but instead it strips the genre down to the bare essentials and this turns it into one of the most pure shooters we've seen for some time.

New modes, new vehicles and a whole new batch of trophies and awards to obtain (including the awesome Vertical Takedowns that see you falling from a height to land on a rival) all make for an experience that has enough in common with the sublime "Burnout 3" to create a feeling of comfort, but is different enough to test you all over again.

Dragon Quest VIII's world flows. It moves. It's utterly huge. It reminds one of "Zelda: Ocarina of Time" on a "Grand Theft Auto" scale. It is an adventure. It's possible to get hopelessly lost in mountain paths, or on tributaries in rivers that dissect giant continents with no place to land a boat outside of a shady hidden casino in the rocks. [JPN Import]

For those that have completed the game the credits are one of the funniest things I have ever seen in a game. The credits run on for quite a while and almost make having completed the game an afterthought.

This is still the best choice for gamers wanting to batter a hard white ball around a park but anyone returning to the series will be disappointed with the slender changes.

Not since "Zeus: Master Of Olympus" have the gods smiled so benignly on RTS worshippers, and for new adorers and regular acolytes alike, Age Of Mythology is a revelation – this is a must for followers and atheists alike.

A shotgun blast of colour and speed, Wipeout 3 is not something you'll forget easily. It's the biggest, finest-looking, finest-playing game of an exceptionally good trilogy.

Despite the fact that the gameplay is quite deep and requires a fair amount of thought to do well at, the actual game itself is incredibly easy to pick up.

The visuals are excellent, commentary exciting and convincing, and overall enjoyment is top-notch. Highly recommended.

A solid looking, solid playing basketball game that sits firmly in the ‘realism’ camp.

Good in the sense that it means anyone can instantly pick it up and perform miraculous feats of head-cleaving prowess. But bad because it means you can effortlessly plough straight through it without having to work very hard.

SEGA Sports certainly know how to make their titles as exciting as possible – the music plays, the lights flash, the audience is pumped up, all you’d need is a hotdog and you’d have the perfect hockey experience!

The visual splendour of the whole land will undoubtedly entice Xbox owners to the shops - and quite rightly so - but it's the underlying quests that will keep them involved in the game until the bitter end.

Resident Evil 2 is not just a great game, but also proof that the N64 can do the supposedly impossible when developers put their minds to it. An incredible achievement.

The gameplay is sumptuous, and is helped along considerably by a smooth learning curve and a constant 60fps update. The biggest surprise of all, and one which we've mentioned several times, is the depth the game has to offer.

Style is nothing without substance.

Whilst definitely not monumental, it’s a fair distraction that’s in need of a bit of a boost.